Engines, and particularly gas or combustion turbine engines, are rotary engines that extract energy from a flow of combusted gases passing through the engine onto a multitude of turbine blades. Gas turbine engines have been used for land and nautical locomotion and power generation, but are most commonly used for aeronautical applications such as for aircraft, including helicopters. In aircraft, gas turbine engines are used for propulsion of the aircraft. In terrestrial applications, turbine engines are often used for power generation. Additionally, fluidic systems where the flow of dirty fluid, such as containing particulate matter, can include a downstream engine, such as in a tank or power plant.
Gas turbine engines for aircraft are designed to operate at high temperatures to maximize engine efficiency, so cooling of certain engine components, such as the high pressure turbine and the low pressure turbine, can be necessary. Typically, cooling is accomplished by ducting cooler air from the high and/or low pressure compressors to the engine components that require cooling. While the turbine air is a high temperature, it is cooler relative to the compressor air, and can be used to cool the turbine. When cooling the turbines, cooling air can be supplied to various turbine components, including the interior of the turbine blades and the turbine shroud.
Particles, such as dirt, dust, sand, volcanic ash, and other environmental contaminants in the engine intake air can cause severe compressor erosion. As the particles move through the engine they can melt in the combustion gases and subsequently resolidify on the turbine flow path surfaces. Particles entrained in the turbine cooling air can cause a loss of cooling due to deposition and plugging of the cooling passages. All of these effects cause reduced operational time or “time-on-wing” for the aircraft environment. This problem is exacerbated in certain operating environments around the globe where turbine engines are exposed to significant amounts of airborne particles.